Category: Islam

Hope College of Holland, Michigan Last fall I was invited by a close friend of mine who is a faculty member at Hope College in Holland, Michigan to speak in a series of Islam awareness programs. I made the trip out in early March. It snowed nearly the entire time I was there and the highest the temperature reached was 39, for about an hour, on a Saturday afternoon. The city is almost completely protestant Christian. No one could tell me if there was a…Continue Reading “Finding Hope About Islamophobia at Hope College”→

In only the latest lethal Islamophobic attack: “The white man suspected of shooting two men, killing one, allegedly told a bartender before his arrest that he had killed two Middle Eastern men… Adam Purinton, 51, was arrested at an Applebee’s bar where he’d been drinking five hours after the shooting. He reportedly told the bartender—who called police—that he needed to hide out. According to the Star, at least one witness heard Purinton yell ‘get out of my country’ shortly before shooting two men he believed…Continue Reading “Being “a Muslim” in America”→

In the weeks preceding and following the election, I was challenged by the visceral responses from left, right, and center of this artificial political system constructed it seems to disenfranchise the oppressed and benefit the oppressors. I was and still am never sure of being on the right (or left) side of history (or eternity); compared to so many, I am privileged and thus called to responsibility, though compared to the rulers I am a mere pawn in the ruthless game of neoliberal capitalism. But…Continue Reading “A (Com)Passionate Response”→